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Chapter 21. POSITIONAL CANNON PLAY

When I am giving billiard lessons, I often ask my pupils to play a stroke in "their own way". This teaches me something, showing me plenty of faults it is my business to eradicate. A favourite test stroke of mine in this connection, is the cannon shown in Fig. 71. Whenever I set this up for a beginner to attempt, it is long odds that he will try to make a floppy kind of run-through cannon at slow strength, or else, if he happens to be exceptionally keen-sighted, he will attempt a fine cannon direct from red to white. Both these strokes are wrong, the fine shot totally and hopelessly-the slow run-through is merely the right shot played wrongly.

If you strike your ball above its centre and make this run-through cannon at correct strength, striking the red nearly full, you will send the coloured ball in and out of baulk, and leave the three balls the next thing to "bunched" when the cannon is made. Exactly the same principle applies to any number of run-through cannons played when the striker is facing baulk. These should always be played to drive the first object-ball in and out of baulk at such strength that it comes to rest near the other balls when the cannon is scored.

In and Out of Baulk

But the average tyro, who does not usually fail because he will not hit his ball hard enough, simply has to be drilled into playing these common run-through cannons with enough force to send the first object-ball in and out of baulk. He exhibits reluctance amounting to funk against playing eliberately to drive a ball into baulk, feeling that he must strive his hardest to keep a ball from entering baulk if he can possibly prevent it. This feeling is natural enough- what the beginner fails to realize is that while it is almost invariably bad billiards to play a ball into baulk and leave it there, yet there are countless strokes which demand that a ball shall be sent in baulk and out again for positional purposes. Furthermore, he does not know that it is usually much easier to do this than it is to play at such dead strength that his object-ball fails to reach the baulk-line.

This is true with any number of losing hazards as well as cannons, and is very well shown in the cannon now before us. It is what I call a "good, bad shot" just to make this cannon by means of a run-through played so gently that the red stops short of the baulk-line. This is infinitely more difficult than it is to play the cannon with proper positional effect, yet it is the method nine beginners out of ten will select if left to their own devices.

Always Remember After-Position

If I showed a beginner the balls placed as in Fig. 73 he would think I was offering him "an easy one" for his encouragement, and promptly score a biffing sort of cannon direct from red to white. In reality, however, simple as the position appears, this stroke will well repay most careful practice and study. Begin by placing the balls exactly as follows: Red, 3 inches from the side cushion and 3 feet 2 inches from the top cushion; white, 13 inches from the side cushion and 2 feet 1 inch from the top cushion. The cue-ball is in hand, and you place it on the right-hand spot of the baulk-line. Then, with well-judged strength, you play a plain half-ball, striking your ball dead central, and hitting the right of the red to take your ball to the side cushion, from which it comes across neatly to make the cannon as shown. This cannon leaves the balls in ideal position, again, you will notice, by directing the red to the top cushion and back again.

When set-up correctly, it is very easy, and when you make it, I want you to watch the angles with particular care, so that you can always reproduce them at will when dealing with numerous leaves resembling this most useful cannon.

Overcoming "Cover" and "Kiss"

My next shot reveals a possibility rather than even a probability. It is an all-round cannon which may be considered more of an exhibition shot than anything else. Still it has its uses in serious billiards, as it teaches something which may be the one thing you want to know to keep a badly-needed break on the move. Figure 74 shows how the balls are placed. The cue-ball is almost touching the red, the red is touching the white, a thing you must be careful about when setting the shot up. You score by playing a fine, sharp shot off the red, using a little running side, and striking your ball with freedom enough to send it completely round the table, as shown by the dotted line in my diagram. While your ball is sprinting round the table, the white is kissed slowly along the top cushion, and, with a little luck, your ball and the white will meet at the point shown by a cross in my diagram. There are sundry variations of this particular kind of shot playable, and a possibility of scoring something of the kind is always worth looking for when the balls cover badly against a cushion, and the two object-balls are touching.

A "Bread and Butter" Cannon

Figure 75 illustrates what I call a "bread and butter cannon". I give it this name because, when well handled, it is one of those friendly strokes which enable professionals to earn a living. As the balls lie, if you play a gentle screw cannon from red to white, it looks such a nice shot that you would feel entitled to sympathy if you potted the white when the cannon was completed, or if a kiss robbed you before the cannon was made.

You would get no sympathy from me, as I should tell you that either of these things served you right for playing the cannon badly. Instead of using screw, and very likely a bit of running side as well, while playing the cannon direct and incorrectly, all you need do is to play a plain half-ball stroke without any side, to make the cannon via the top and side cushion, as shown in my diagram. This will take the red across into position as shown by the continuous line in my diagram, and if the strength is what it should be, you score another of those most useful cannons which bring the balls together. Really, it is so very easy to score this particular cannon in the manner I advise, that you can concentrate on playing at just the right strength for position, and you ought not to rest satisfied until you can handle this cannon as well as a professional exponent usually does.

A Difficult Positional Cannon

Figure 76 shows a beautiful positional cannon which is almost as difficult in execution as the foregoing is simple and easy. The red ball is tight against the top cushion about midway between the billiard spot and the left-side cushion. The white ball is 21/4 inches from the side cushion and 15 inches from the middle pocket. The cue-ball is in hand, and while there is a good deal to be said about alternative scoring possibilities, there can be no doubt that the best shot is the cannon shown in my diagram. To make this, you place the cue-ball 4 inches back from the baulk-line and exactly on the curve of the "D" at the left side of baulk.

You play full on the white, with top and strong right-hand side on your ball. This directs your ball straight to the side cushion, from which it would rebound in almost the same direction as the white, but for the powerful side it carries. This pulls it away up the table, to make the cannon as shown in my diagram. You want a lot of side, mind, to take your ball off the side cushion at the correct angle for this scientific cannon. The reason you make the cannon in this way is because it enables you to direct the white over towards the red off two cushions, thus bringing all three balls together, and once again complying with that golden rule of positional play which orders the balls to be so left at every opportunity.

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